Evaporator.



P. M. DE BEERS.

EVAPORATOR. APPLICATION PILBP $123.27, 1911.

Patented Oct 17, 1911.

lm 'erut r FRANKLIN M. DE BEERS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

' EVAPORA'I'OR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

Application filed February 27, 1911. Serial Ii'o. 611,080.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN M. DE Burns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Evaporators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in evaporators and more particularly to de vices for treating impregnated liquors by the application of steam heat, to concentrate the solution.

One of the salient objects of my invention is to provide an improved steam chest located in a liquor-receiving receptacle so that an effective circulation of the liquor may be insured, and to this end my invention contemplates the provision of a jacket surround:

ing the steam chest for the prevention of countercurrents in the liquor.

Another object of my invention is to pro- 1 vide a novel heating tube structure in the steam chest whereby the liquor in its heatimpelled ascent through the tubes may be brought into more intimate contact with the heated tube surfaces, and its circulation correspondingly stimulated. To attain this object, my invention contemplates the provision in each tube of a deflecting member so that'the liquor in its passage through the tube may be caused to ascend in a spiral path.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and advantageous construction of deflecting member in each tube, so that the same may be readily inserted into the tube without disturbing the steam chest, and may be removed from the tube to clear the same of any matter lodging in the liquor path, the insert being of such form that,

in its removal, itmay scrape the sides of.

the tube and carry out with it the accumulated matter. I

Other objects of my invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description of an embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whereint Figure 1 is a central vertical section through an evaporator structure to which my invention has been applied; Fig. 2is a cross section on line 2-2 thereof; and Fig.- 3 is an enlarged detail, showing the pipe insert.

In the drawing, 5 indicates generally a liquor receptacle ofordinary construction,

providing a liquor inlet 6, a vapor outlet 7 atit-s top, and a sediment outlet 8 at its bottom for drawing oil the concentrated material. parts in the liquor receptacle, and for ready cleaning of the liquor tubes through the steam chest to be described, I preferably provide in the liquor receptacle a man-hole and closure 9. Under the vapor outlet 7, I preferably provide a drip pan 10, of funnel shape, provided with return pipe l0,;and

- I also preferably provide a liquor deflector ll of usual flaring shape arranged above the steam chest and mounted on. the steam supply pipe 15 to be described. All of the structure thus far described is of advantageous construction, well understood in the art.

In the lower half of the liquor receptacle, I arrange my improved steam chest, generally indicated at 12, having an inlet opening 13 at its top, to receive its steam supply through piping 14 and valve 15, from any suitable source of supply, and having an outlet 16 near its bottom, piped past the usual safety pop valve 17 to any delivery point. The steam chest may be supported in the liquor receptacle in any suitable manner, as by the ordinary provision of an inwardly extending ring 18, secured to the inner wall of the liquor receptacle, upon which rest a suitable number of radially projecting castings 1919, attached to the chest. The steam chest 12 provides the usual tubes 2020, extending from bottom to top thereof, in parallelism with the circumferen- -tial .wall, which in the particular construc- For convenience in arranging the.

liquor will circulate, in general, upwardly v through the tubes and downwardly around the exterior of the steam chest. 7

As a feature of my invention, I provide means for stimulating liquor circulation and preventing a countercurrent in the downfiow space around the steam chest due to the heating effect of the outer surface of the chest, under the influence. of which a portion of the liquorimmediately adjacent to the chest would tend, to travel upwardly.

against the downwardly trending general flow of the liquor not in contact with the chest. To these ends, I' provide a jacket 22 surrounding the steam chest 12, and on all sides spaced from the wall thereof by the interposition of angle iron spacers 21', thereing twisted to any desired extent, prefer-.

by providing between such jacket 22 and wal l 21 of the steam chest a clearance space 22'- in which the liquor heated by contact with the steam-chest wall 21 may move upwardly, so to a great extent carrying ofif the heat continuously radiated by said wall 21, and leaving. the outer wall 22 relatively cool, and so-reducing to 'a minimum the tendency of the downwardly traveling liquor between the wall 22 and the wall of the or band of width substantially equal to the internal diameter ofa pipe, such band heably at least through one complete turn, and having at its upper end a perforation 24s It will be apparent that such inserts 23 may be placed in the tubes 20, and held in position therein by friction, or by the passage of a wire or pin 25 through each perforation 24. Thus, there will be formed in each ipe a spiral path which will cause the liquor in' its ascent to rotate about the central axis of the tube, insuring effective heating of the entire liquor body in flow through the tube,

and so stimulating circulation. Further, it will be apparent that in the event of clogging of any tube or tubes by matter accumulating therein, it is only necessary to gain access to the steam chest 12 through the man hole 9 and by working the insert 23up and down in its tube, all the accumulated material is loosened and may then be drawn out of the tube clinging in the convolutions of the insert, to be readily removed therefrom. I

In the operation of my device, the impregnated liquor is run into the liquor receptacle 5 through the inlet 6 to a height somewhat above the steam chest 12. The valve 15 may then be turned to admit steam to the steam chest 12, so heating the surfaces thereof and 'impelling a circulation of the liquor upwardly through the spiral paths provided in the tubes 20 by the inserts 23 and through the space between the heated wall 21 of the steam chest 12 and the relatively cooler jacket 22 and the wall of the receptacle 5, so bringing all of the liquor in said receptacle into intimate contact with the steam chest. Thus it will be seen that the body of liquor traveling upward between the steam chest wall and the jacket acts as an insulator to .ldown-flowing llquor as would retard the violent circulation necessary to efficient working of an evaporator of this type.

While I have described in detail the apthat many structural changes may be made revent such heating of the without departure from the spirit of my invention. I

What I claim is: 1. In an evaporator, the combination with a liquor. receptacle, a steam chest associated therewith to provide a downflow space past the steam'chest, and tubes through thechest, of a jacket spaced apartfrom the wall of said chest toward the downflow space to .provide a path between the chest and jacket for upwardrmovement of liquor, toprevent countercurrents in the downflow space. 2. In an evaporator, the combination with a liquor receptacle, a steam chest associated therewith to provide a downflow space and provided with heating tubes, of a jacket concentric with said steam chest, and longitudinal spacers spacing said jacket from the side wall of said steam chest toward the downflow space to provide therebet-ween a pathway for the upwardly traveling liquor heated by contact with said side wall of the steam chest, thereby to prevent countercurrents in the downflow space.

3. In anevaporator, a liquor receptacle,

tacle directing steam of evaporation fromthe surface thereof toward the side of said' liquor receptacle, and a jacket surrounding and slightly spaced apart from the. wall of the steam chest. r

In testimony whereof I hereunto hand in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANKLIN M. on 

